Daniel l



DANIEL F. CHASE,- oF' BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

i Letters PatentNfL 755,523, dated March 17, 1868.

IMPBOVEIMEIST EN STEAM-,ENGINE GOVERNORS.

tite tlgrmiie tetettrt trilt tlgrsrtrtters lizitent mit noting nrt atttrsintr..

TO ALL4 T0 WHOMFTHESYE PRESENTS SHALL COME:

p Belit known that I, DAIEL L.' F. CIiASE, of Boston, in the county 'ofSuliolkgaud State of Massachusetts,

but at present a. resident of theKingdom of Great vBritain,have'invented'a new aniluseful Governor for Stcam- Engines, and otherpurposes, and dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexactdescription thereof, due reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings making part of this speclication, and in which--A Fgurel is afront elevation,

Figure 2 a side'elevatin, and Figurea vertical andilongitudinal sectionof the said invention. I i p Figures '4, 5, and 6 represent detachedviews of the valves and valve-ports hereinafter referred to.'

This invention is'a-n improvement inv that class of governors known asball-governors, or thosein which the i centrifugal force of two balls,fixed upontheextrcmities of two variable arms, and revolving about anaxis, is

employed to regulate the valve or thi-ottle, as it is termed, of theengine, one object of such invention being to rclieve'such balls andarms ofthe strain andl laboinnow devolving upon them. Another object ofthe invention is to so constructthegovernor that it shall be verysensitive to the action of the steam, and change the valve quickly, inmanner und to operate substantially as hereinafter explained. v

In the drawings before mentioned,'A denotes a hollow base ordome appliedto the steam-chest in the proper position for'adtnitting steam thereto,the 'steam entering such dome by apertures, a a, made in one side ofsuch dome, and communicatingwith thelsteam-pipe leading from the boiler.The valve is shown at'b'as overlapping the exterior of the ports tt a,the stem'c of such valve extending' across' the interior of the dome andthrough its opposite sides, and beingvprovided at its outer extremitywith a vibrating sectoral lever, d, having a slot-or opening',e,made"throi1gh"its upper part, a toothed rack,f and g, being formedupon the upper and lower boundaryof such slot. 'A toothed pinion, 7i,plays within such slot, and is fixed to the outer end of a shaft,,Whic'h is supported by and revolves in a horizontal vibrating hol-lowarm or bracket, 7c, the inner-end of such bracket being pivoted to anarched standard or frame, Z, rising upward from thetopof the dome insuch manner as' to permit of: vertical vibrating movements ofthe shaftz' and its pinion'h.

The shaft z' is put in revolution by a spur-gear, m,ixed to its innerend, which engages with a' second spurd gear, n, fixed to the extremityof a. horizontalshaft, o, which extends across and above the dome'A, andthrough opposite sides of the arch Z, in-which it is supported, theopposite end ofsuchshaft olbeing provided with a pulley, which isoperated -by a belt leading directly from the main shaft of the engine,this last thus becoming the.driving-shaft.of` the governing mechanism.A. vertical shaft, 9'; revolves within-astanda'rd'or goose-neck, r,.rising from lthe top of the arch Z, this shaft g having the usualregulator-balls and sliding sleeve, the latter shown at s inthedrawings, applied to it in the ordinary manner, the shaft g being putinrevolution by means of a bevel'led gear, t, fixed upon its lower end,which meshes into a second bevelled gear, u, fixed uponthed1iving-slraft o, as shown in iig. 3 of thedrawings.

Afvibrating-lever, a, is pivoted at about its centre to the outerextremity ofthe goose-neck r, and'has its inner endw extending intothelgr ve w of the sliding sleeve s before mentioned.v The outer end yof the rlever v is connected to the outer extremity of thevibrating-bracket 7c before referred to by a pitman, z, and so thatanyvertical movementsof' the lever v shall produce correspondingmovements of such bracket le. The slot e of-.the lsectoral levendI isnot in a circle struck 'from the centre of the axis of such lever, butis eccentric there= with, in Vorder to follow the vertical vibrations ofthe pinion' It, the said'slot furthermore having an enlargement, a1 anda2, at each end, in order to allowv the vibrating-lever d to remainstationary under certain conditions, and

V not to be actuatedibysuch pinion. v p

The regulating-valve 'of the apparatus consists of a metallic disk,having segmental notches b b cut from .its circumference,leaving gates cc upon opposite sides to wdrk in conjunction with the ports or aperturesa a before alluded to. These pdrts,as shownin Afig1 4 of theac'companyngdraxvings, are pointed ortapering at their extremitiesinorder to shut oifthe steam gradually to someextent, and thus lpreventsudden concussion or ehucking of the engine under high pressure ofsteam.

The operationoft the above-described mechanism is as follows: Taking asa starting-point thepositiou of the parts, as shown in iig. 1 of thedrawings, that is,'witl1 the pinion L in engagement with the lowersectoral 'rack g of theA lever d, and with the steam-ports leading tothe dome A half open, or thereabouts, and with the engine increasing inspeed; should the engine increase in speed at too rapid a rate, thecontinuedrising of theregulator-balls (and consequently the sleeves) bymeans of the sleeve depresses theouter end of the lever v and 'maintainsthe pinion h in engagement with theraelr g, it being understood that thedriving-pulley is revolving in the direction indicated by the arrowthereon, which consequently drives the pinion in the opposite direction,or that shown by its arrow.- This revolution of the pinion will move thesectoral rack d in the same direction and actuate the valve in suchmanner as to partially or wholly close the ports a a., and consequentlydiminish or `cut off the entrance of steam to the dome A and the engine,and reduce the speed of such engine. I

Should the engine be decreasing in speed to too great an extent, thelowering of the regulator-balls will raise the pinion L into engagementwith the upper rackf, and. by moving the sectoral lever d in theopposite direction, or that. of the red arrow thereon, will open thevalve, or the apertures a a, and admit more steam to the engine., Thepinion 7L at times, and under certain conditions, (according tothepressure of steam'and amount of labor demanded of the engine,) maytravel to one or the other extremity of the slot e and remain there fora short time, orld'uring an even movement of the engine. If it happensto be within the recess marked al, (in which case the valve-ports willbewde open,) it will remain there until the movement o f the engine hasacquired too great speed, in which event the rapid revolution of theballs will lower-'the pinion `into engagement with the lower rack g,andconsequently move the lever d in the direction of the black arrow, and,as before observed, diminish the amount of steam'. Vice versa, shouldthe pinionv'be within the space a? and the speed ofthe engine requireaccelerating, the lowering ofthe regulatorballs will throwvthe pinioninto engagement with the upper rackfand move the lever d in thedirection of the red arrow with the effect before stated.

It will be seen by the above description, which, though rathervoluminous', is necessary to a complete understanding of the invention,that the only labor required of the revolving balls is 'to raise andlower the pinion h into engagementwith one or other of the racks fg, asthe revolutions of such pinion and vibrating movements of the sectorallever are produced directly and entirely by the drivingshaft o. Theapparatus is avery sensitive one, detecting and answering instantly theslightest variations in the speed of the engine. As perfect control ishad over the movements of the engine, and it neither exceeds nor fallsbelow its desired speed, no steam is wasted. As the pinion L revolveswith speed, it produces a comparatively instantaneous change in thevalve or much quicker than would be the case if the slow verticalmovements of the balls and sleeve were depended upon, as heretofore, toaccomplish this end.

The invention, although described above as a steam-engine governor,possesses advantages which render its application valuable as a governoror ,regulator for water-motors and for other purposes.

I have contemplated employing two pinions,"combined with the vibratingshaft t', and operating with one rack in place of one pinion and tworacks, as shown in the present instance. This, however, would not alterthe character of this portion of my invention, which is intended toembrace the employment of a rack and pinioli for operating the valve inconnection with the usual regulator-balls.

I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States- 1. The combination o f the valve-stem. and sectoral rackor lever with the vibratory arm 7c, pinion z, and shaft z', receivingmotion directly from thev driving-shaft o, substantially as andfor thepurposes shown and set forth.

2. The combination of the valve-stem, the sectoral rack or lever, andits actuating-pinion and vibratory shaft of the gear m n, shaft o, andlever v, link 2, and sleeve s, substantially as and for the purposesherein shown and specified.

3. I also claim the construction of the sectoral lever d, as composed ofthe eccentric-slot e, with its enlarge- .men'ts a1 a? and its toothedracksf and g, essentially as before set forth andxplained.

l -I also claim the combination, with the arch l, ofthe vibrating-arm orbracket lc, the shaft z' and the gears m and a, the bracket beingpivoted to the arch, as before explained. n

' D. L. l?. CHASE.

Witnesses:

L. H. CHASE, F. WATKINsoN.

